Reforming food in post-Famine Ireland: Medicine, science and improvement, 1845-1922 is the first dedicated study of how and why Irish eating habits dramatically transformed between the Famine and ...
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Reforming food in post-Famine Ireland: Medicine, science and improvement, 1845-1922 is the first dedicated study of how and why Irish eating habits dramatically transformed between the Famine and independence. It also investigates the simultaneous reshaping of Irish food production after the Famine. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book draws from the diverse methodological disciplines of medical history, history of science, cultural studies, Irish studies, gender studies and food studies. Making use of an impressive range of sources, it maps the pivotal role of food in the reshaping of Irish society onto a political and social backdrop of famine, Land Wars, political turbulence, the First World War and the struggle for independence. It is of interest to historians of medicine and science as well as historians of modern Irish social, economic, political and cultural history.Less

Ian Miller

Published in print: 2014-07-31

Reforming food in post-Famine Ireland: Medicine, science and improvement, 1845-1922 is the first dedicated study of how and why Irish eating habits dramatically transformed between the Famine and independence. It also investigates the simultaneous reshaping of Irish food production after the Famine. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book draws from the diverse methodological disciplines of medical history, history of science, cultural studies, Irish studies, gender studies and food studies. Making use of an impressive range of sources, it maps the pivotal role of food in the reshaping of Irish society onto a political and social backdrop of famine, Land Wars, political turbulence, the First World War and the struggle for independence. It is of interest to historians of medicine and science as well as historians of modern Irish social, economic, political and cultural history.

The introduction follows the emergence of food films as an international genre before its success in the U.S, also discussing the concept of genre, and whether we can talk of a food film genre. The ...
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The introduction follows the emergence of food films as an international genre before its success in the U.S, also discussing the concept of genre, and whether we can talk of a food film genre. The section also explores the connection between food film and embodiment, above all in terms of physical reactions of the viewers. It then investigate the increasing relevance of food in cultural and social debates in the US, and well as its growing visibility in the mediaLess

Introduction

Laura LindenfeldFabio Parasecoli

Published in print: 2016-11-29

The introduction follows the emergence of food films as an international genre before its success in the U.S, also discussing the concept of genre, and whether we can talk of a food film genre. The section also explores the connection between food film and embodiment, above all in terms of physical reactions of the viewers. It then investigate the increasing relevance of food in cultural and social debates in the US, and well as its growing visibility in the media

Food and Public Health is an easy to read text that helps students understand the history of modern issues in public health nutrition and health promotion. The book’s chapters include practical ...
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Food and Public Health is an easy to read text that helps students understand the history of modern issues in public health nutrition and health promotion. The book’s chapters include practical real-world applications and cases, which serve as examples for extension activities. For instructors, the text offers discussion and writing prompts for each chapter, as well as sample quiz questions. In its 12 chapters, the book covers more than one hundred years of food and public health history including the development of the dietary guidelines, current applications of health behavior theory, approaches to health promotion and disease prevention including food policy, new challenges in curbing food marketing to kids, obesogenic environments, and best practices in chronic disease prevention. Food insecurity is a concept discussed throughout the book with an emphasis on resultant public health problems of both hunger and obesity. The text encourages reflections on global food issues, such as how food, culture, and food insecurity intersect in a global food system.Less

Food and Public Health : A Practical Introduction

Published in print: 2018-10-11

Food and Public Health is an easy to read text that helps students understand the history of modern issues in public health nutrition and health promotion. The book’s chapters include practical real-world applications and cases, which serve as examples for extension activities. For instructors, the text offers discussion and writing prompts for each chapter, as well as sample quiz questions. In its 12 chapters, the book covers more than one hundred years of food and public health history including the development of the dietary guidelines, current applications of health behavior theory, approaches to health promotion and disease prevention including food policy, new challenges in curbing food marketing to kids, obesogenic environments, and best practices in chronic disease prevention. Food insecurity is a concept discussed throughout the book with an emphasis on resultant public health problems of both hunger and obesity. The text encourages reflections on global food issues, such as how food, culture, and food insecurity intersect in a global food system.

The introduction provides an overview of the monograph, introducing key themes such as the complex relationship between post-Famine Ireland and Britain, the development of socially active medical and ...
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The introduction provides an overview of the monograph, introducing key themes such as the complex relationship between post-Famine Ireland and Britain, the development of socially active medical and scientific communities in Ireland and the complex circulation of power relations that impacted on perceptions of Irish consumption and production practices between 1845 and 1922. It maintains that food continued to occupy a problematic position in Ireland for some decades after the Famine, serving as a contentious socio-economic issue that often served as a prism through which to understand Anglo-Irish relations in a period of political and social turbulence. The introduction outlines the theoretical methodologies employed in this monograph and provides a chapter outline.Less

Introduction

Ian Miller

Published in print: 2014-07-31

The introduction provides an overview of the monograph, introducing key themes such as the complex relationship between post-Famine Ireland and Britain, the development of socially active medical and scientific communities in Ireland and the complex circulation of power relations that impacted on perceptions of Irish consumption and production practices between 1845 and 1922. It maintains that food continued to occupy a problematic position in Ireland for some decades after the Famine, serving as a contentious socio-economic issue that often served as a prism through which to understand Anglo-Irish relations in a period of political and social turbulence. The introduction outlines the theoretical methodologies employed in this monograph and provides a chapter outline.

In the late nineteenth-century, steps were taken to tackle food adulteration in Ireland as the concept of purity to be upheld as a new safety standard. This activity coincided with the post-Famine ...
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In the late nineteenth-century, steps were taken to tackle food adulteration in Ireland as the concept of purity to be upheld as a new safety standard. This activity coincided with the post-Famine evolution of a consumerist culture. This chapter demonstrates that the advance of consumerism in Ireland was met with new forms of scientific engagement with consumers and producers that encouraged food quality to be considered in new ways. From the 1860s, public health officials made concerted efforts to delineate the boundaries between purity and impurity and to impose relevant legal standards. The war on impure food was fought on various fronts ranging from cattle raising to butchering and dairy production. Resistance played out on two interconnected levels. Producers contested the need for scientific standards of purity because these threatened to displace long-standing butchering and food production practices. In addition, resistance emerged in the fraught context of late nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish economic relations as anti-adulteration legislation, coupled with an absence of policies to protect the Irish economy, allowed Irish traders and politicians to openly question whether state legislation pertaining to food production was truly benefiting Irish economic life. This pessimistic narrative reflected mounting concern over the economic implications of British rule.Less

Purity, adulteration and national economic decline

Ian Miller

Published in print: 2014-07-31

In the late nineteenth-century, steps were taken to tackle food adulteration in Ireland as the concept of purity to be upheld as a new safety standard. This activity coincided with the post-Famine evolution of a consumerist culture. This chapter demonstrates that the advance of consumerism in Ireland was met with new forms of scientific engagement with consumers and producers that encouraged food quality to be considered in new ways. From the 1860s, public health officials made concerted efforts to delineate the boundaries between purity and impurity and to impose relevant legal standards. The war on impure food was fought on various fronts ranging from cattle raising to butchering and dairy production. Resistance played out on two interconnected levels. Producers contested the need for scientific standards of purity because these threatened to displace long-standing butchering and food production practices. In addition, resistance emerged in the fraught context of late nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish economic relations as anti-adulteration legislation, coupled with an absence of policies to protect the Irish economy, allowed Irish traders and politicians to openly question whether state legislation pertaining to food production was truly benefiting Irish economic life. This pessimistic narrative reflected mounting concern over the economic implications of British rule.

The Introduction defines migrant marketplaces, the book’s theoretical framework, as urban spaces characterized by material and imagined transnational linkages between mobile people and goods. As one ...
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The Introduction defines migrant marketplaces, the book’s theoretical framework, as urban spaces characterized by material and imagined transnational linkages between mobile people and goods. As one of the most mobile ethnic groups during the age of mass migration, Italians in the United States and Argentina illuminate the historical formation of migrant marketplaces. It situates the book within the fields of transnational and comparative migration history, gender and food history, and the history of globalization. The introduction contends that Italian-language commercial newspapers, including La Patria degli Italiani in Buenos Aires, Il Progresso Italo-Americano in New York and publications of Italian Chambers of Commerce in these two cities, make an examination of migrant marketplaces possible because they ground global migratory and commercial flows in specific cities.Less

Introduction

Elizabeth Zanoni

Published in print: 2018-03-15

The Introduction defines migrant marketplaces, the book’s theoretical framework, as urban spaces characterized by material and imagined transnational linkages between mobile people and goods. As one of the most mobile ethnic groups during the age of mass migration, Italians in the United States and Argentina illuminate the historical formation of migrant marketplaces. It situates the book within the fields of transnational and comparative migration history, gender and food history, and the history of globalization. The introduction contends that Italian-language commercial newspapers, including La Patria degli Italiani in Buenos Aires, Il Progresso Italo-Americano in New York and publications of Italian Chambers of Commerce in these two cities, make an examination of migrant marketplaces possible because they ground global migratory and commercial flows in specific cities.

The ending of the Anglo-Irish Economic War (1932-8) is often represented as a watershed in British-Irish relations. However, it was soon followed by renewed trade hostility. Between 1940 and 1945, ...
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The ending of the Anglo-Irish Economic War (1932-8) is often represented as a watershed in British-Irish relations. However, it was soon followed by renewed trade hostility. Between 1940 and 1945, Winston Churchill subjected Ireland to an economic squeeze: the price of Irish neutrality in the Second World War. While the length of this trade war has generally been overlooked by historians, the effect of this ‘long’ Economic War on Irish public health has been similarly disregarded. This contribution argues that the Anglo-Irish economic war resulted in the mass slaughter of Irish herds due to the removal of the British export market. Market disruption had a significant knock-on effect on Irish public health, particularly in the countryside. Similarly, the British economic squeeze of the Second World War ensured that Ireland’s agricultural economy was denied fertilisers, feed, chemicals and tractors; modern productive aids that are essential to food production. The Irish government infamously introduced the ‘black loaf’ as wheat production wheat stalled, causing fears of a second Famine. Aggravated by a belatedly introduced rationing system, public health suffered.Less

Food, the Emergency and the lower-class Irish body, c.1939–45

Bryce Evans

Published in print: 2016-11-28

The ending of the Anglo-Irish Economic War (1932-8) is often represented as a watershed in British-Irish relations. However, it was soon followed by renewed trade hostility. Between 1940 and 1945, Winston Churchill subjected Ireland to an economic squeeze: the price of Irish neutrality in the Second World War. While the length of this trade war has generally been overlooked by historians, the effect of this ‘long’ Economic War on Irish public health has been similarly disregarded. This contribution argues that the Anglo-Irish economic war resulted in the mass slaughter of Irish herds due to the removal of the British export market. Market disruption had a significant knock-on effect on Irish public health, particularly in the countryside. Similarly, the British economic squeeze of the Second World War ensured that Ireland’s agricultural economy was denied fertilisers, feed, chemicals and tractors; modern productive aids that are essential to food production. The Irish government infamously introduced the ‘black loaf’ as wheat production wheat stalled, causing fears of a second Famine. Aggravated by a belatedly introduced rationing system, public health suffered.

This chapter explores the evolving relationship between gastronomy and dietetics—or more specifically, pleasure and health—in food history. Before the science of nutrition was tempered by the ...
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This chapter explores the evolving relationship between gastronomy and dietetics—or more specifically, pleasure and health—in food history. Before the science of nutrition was tempered by the discovery of vitamins and the culinary practices that were changed or shaped around this knowledge, more ancient perspectives had found an easy correlation between pleasure and health. What tastes good for you, it was said, was also good for you. Such ideas had brought about cooking procedures that ensured balance in the flavors and qualities of the meal, albeit, perhaps, at the expense of modern nutritive science. Many such gastronomic contradictions arise throughout ancient history when compared to the culinary practices of today—other such anecdotes are discussed in further detail in the rest of this chapter.Less

Pleasure and Health

Massimo Montanari

Published in print: 2015-01-27

This chapter explores the evolving relationship between gastronomy and dietetics—or more specifically, pleasure and health—in food history. Before the science of nutrition was tempered by the discovery of vitamins and the culinary practices that were changed or shaped around this knowledge, more ancient perspectives had found an easy correlation between pleasure and health. What tastes good for you, it was said, was also good for you. Such ideas had brought about cooking procedures that ensured balance in the flavors and qualities of the meal, albeit, perhaps, at the expense of modern nutritive science. Many such gastronomic contradictions arise throughout ancient history when compared to the culinary practices of today—other such anecdotes are discussed in further detail in the rest of this chapter.

This chapter argues that food seems to be a domain in which everybody feels they are an expert, and that ordinary eaters should be responsible for making the right food choices for their own daily ...
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This chapter argues that food seems to be a domain in which everybody feels they are an expert, and that ordinary eaters should be responsible for making the right food choices for their own daily consumption. It demonstrates the historical significance of food, including its ephemeral, transient, and perishable qualities. It also explains that the history of food demands attention to the changing relationship between matter, knowledge, and meaning.Less

Conclusion

E.C. Spary

Published in print: 2012-11-01

This chapter argues that food seems to be a domain in which everybody feels they are an expert, and that ordinary eaters should be responsible for making the right food choices for their own daily consumption. It demonstrates the historical significance of food, including its ephemeral, transient, and perishable qualities. It also explains that the history of food demands attention to the changing relationship between matter, knowledge, and meaning.

In recent years, Japan’s cuisine, or washoku, has been eclipsing that of France as the world’s most desirable food. UNESCO recognized washoku as an intangible cultural treasure in 2013, and Tokyo ...
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In recent years, Japan’s cuisine, or washoku, has been eclipsing that of France as the world’s most desirable food. UNESCO recognized washoku as an intangible cultural treasure in 2013, and Tokyo boasts more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris and New York combined. Together with anime, pop music, fashion, and cute goods, cuisine is part of the “Cool Japan” brand that promotes the country as a new kind of cultural superpower. This book offers insights into many different aspects of Japanese culinary history and practice, from the evolution and characteristics of particular foodstuffs, to their representation in literature and film, to the role of foods in individual, regional, and national identity. It features contributions by both noted Japan specialists and experts in food history. The book poses the question, “What is washoku?” What culinary values are imposed or implied by this term? Which elements of Japanese cuisine are most visible in the global gourmet landscape and why? Chapters from a variety of disciplinary perspectives interrogate how foodways have come to represent aspects of a “unique” Japanese identity and are infused with official and unofficial ideologies. They reveal how Japanese culinary values and choices, past and present, reflect beliefs about gender, class, and race; how they are represented in mass media; and how they are interpreted by state and nonstate actors, at home and abroad. Chapters examine the thoughts, actions, and motives of those who produce, consume, promote, and represent Japanese foods.Less

Devouring Japan : Global Perspectives on Japanese Culinary Identity

Published in print: 2018-07-05

In recent years, Japan’s cuisine, or washoku, has been eclipsing that of France as the world’s most desirable food. UNESCO recognized washoku as an intangible cultural treasure in 2013, and Tokyo boasts more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris and New York combined. Together with anime, pop music, fashion, and cute goods, cuisine is part of the “Cool Japan” brand that promotes the country as a new kind of cultural superpower. This book offers insights into many different aspects of Japanese culinary history and practice, from the evolution and characteristics of particular foodstuffs, to their representation in literature and film, to the role of foods in individual, regional, and national identity. It features contributions by both noted Japan specialists and experts in food history. The book poses the question, “What is washoku?” What culinary values are imposed or implied by this term? Which elements of Japanese cuisine are most visible in the global gourmet landscape and why? Chapters from a variety of disciplinary perspectives interrogate how foodways have come to represent aspects of a “unique” Japanese identity and are infused with official and unofficial ideologies. They reveal how Japanese culinary values and choices, past and present, reflect beliefs about gender, class, and race; how they are represented in mass media; and how they are interpreted by state and nonstate actors, at home and abroad. Chapters examine the thoughts, actions, and motives of those who produce, consume, promote, and represent Japanese foods.

Eating is a multisensory experience, yet chefs and scientists have only recently begun to deconstruct food's components, setting the stage for science-based cooking. This book advances culinary ...
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Eating is a multisensory experience, yet chefs and scientists have only recently begun to deconstruct food's components, setting the stage for science-based cooking. This book advances culinary knowledge by testing hypotheses rooted in the physical and chemical properties of food. Using traditional and cutting-edge tools, ingredients, and techniques, the book creates, and sometimes revamps, dishes that respond to specific desires and serves up an original encounter with gastronomic practice. From the seemingly mundane to the food fantastic—from grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, and soft-boiled eggs to Turkish ice cream, sugar glasses, and jellified beads—the book covers a range of creations and their history and culture. It considers the significance of an eater's background and dining atmosphere and the importance of a chef's methods, as well as the strategies used to create a great diversity of foods and dishes. The book will be of interest to experts and amateurs alike, especially as restaurants rely more on science-based cooking and recreational cooks increasingly explore the physics and chemistry behind their art. Each chapter ends with the author's personal thoughts on food, cooking, and science, offering rare insight into a professional's passion for playing with food.Less

The Kitchen as Laboratory : Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking

Published in print: 2013-08-13

Eating is a multisensory experience, yet chefs and scientists have only recently begun to deconstruct food's components, setting the stage for science-based cooking. This book advances culinary knowledge by testing hypotheses rooted in the physical and chemical properties of food. Using traditional and cutting-edge tools, ingredients, and techniques, the book creates, and sometimes revamps, dishes that respond to specific desires and serves up an original encounter with gastronomic practice. From the seemingly mundane to the food fantastic—from grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, and soft-boiled eggs to Turkish ice cream, sugar glasses, and jellified beads—the book covers a range of creations and their history and culture. It considers the significance of an eater's background and dining atmosphere and the importance of a chef's methods, as well as the strategies used to create a great diversity of foods and dishes. The book will be of interest to experts and amateurs alike, especially as restaurants rely more on science-based cooking and recreational cooks increasingly explore the physics and chemistry behind their art. Each chapter ends with the author's personal thoughts on food, cooking, and science, offering rare insight into a professional's passion for playing with food.

This chapter explores the role of hunger in food history, and how it has led to many revelations and innovations that are often overlooked by its chroniclers. Gastronomy is in itself a product of ...
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This chapter explores the role of hunger in food history, and how it has led to many revelations and innovations that are often overlooked by its chroniclers. Gastronomy is in itself a product of hunger and the need to consume food, and it comes in many forms. Understanding the diversity of food is one such endeavor, as the knowledge of the land and the plants it generates spontaneously, and the oral transmission of knowledge shared by common people, is recognized as extremely important even by official science. But this powerful link between food and hunger can be expressed in other ways, such as in the conception of food “staples” and food preservation, as it is these that sustain the peasant through the harsh winter months. Overall, food is both a pleasure and a resource.Less

The Gastronomy of Hunger

Massimo Montanari

Published in print: 2015-01-27

This chapter explores the role of hunger in food history, and how it has led to many revelations and innovations that are often overlooked by its chroniclers. Gastronomy is in itself a product of hunger and the need to consume food, and it comes in many forms. Understanding the diversity of food is one such endeavor, as the knowledge of the land and the plants it generates spontaneously, and the oral transmission of knowledge shared by common people, is recognized as extremely important even by official science. But this powerful link between food and hunger can be expressed in other ways, such as in the conception of food “staples” and food preservation, as it is these that sustain the peasant through the harsh winter months. Overall, food is both a pleasure and a resource.

This chapter discusses the notion of food as a fundamental instrument of cultural identity. Many have, after all, asserted their identities via the authenticities of a particular cuisine, yet food ...
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This chapter discusses the notion of food as a fundamental instrument of cultural identity. Many have, after all, asserted their identities via the authenticities of a particular cuisine, yet food and alimentary traditions in general are continually evolving, continually shaped by history and many other factors. The authenticity with a dish respective to its region is not static, as its historical roots likely point to a variety of sources from elsewhere. Culinary traditions are frequently shaped by the dietary needs of their time, as well as the cultural and political implications thereof. Identities associated with these are likewise fluid as they construct themselves over time, leaving even the mere notions of “traditions” and “roots” moot.Less

“Identity” Declined in the Plural

Massimo Montanari

Published in print: 2015-01-27

This chapter discusses the notion of food as a fundamental instrument of cultural identity. Many have, after all, asserted their identities via the authenticities of a particular cuisine, yet food and alimentary traditions in general are continually evolving, continually shaped by history and many other factors. The authenticity with a dish respective to its region is not static, as its historical roots likely point to a variety of sources from elsewhere. Culinary traditions are frequently shaped by the dietary needs of their time, as well as the cultural and political implications thereof. Identities associated with these are likewise fluid as they construct themselves over time, leaving even the mere notions of “traditions” and “roots” moot.

This book offers a new perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France. ...
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This book offers a new perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France. Embracing a wide range of authors and scientific or medical practitioners—from physicians and poets to philosophes and playwrights—it demonstrates how public discussions of eating and drinking were used to articulate concerns about the state of civilization versus that of nature, about the effects of consumption upon the identities of individuals and nations, and about the proper form and practice of scholarship. En route, the book devotes extensive attention to the manufacture, trade, and eating of foods, focusing upon coffee and liqueurs in particular, and also considers controversies over specific issues such as the chemistry of digestion and the nature of alcohol. Familiar figures such as Fontenelle, Diderot, and Rousseau appear alongside little-known individuals from the margins of the world of letters: the draughts-playing café owner Charles Manoury, the “Turkish envoy” Soliman Aga, and the natural philosopher Jacques Gautier d’Agoty. The book contributes to discussions of the dissemination of knowledge and the nature of scientific authority.Less

Eating the Enlightenment : Food and the Sciences in Paris, 1670-1760

E. C. Spary

Published in print: 2012-11-01

This book offers a new perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France. Embracing a wide range of authors and scientific or medical practitioners—from physicians and poets to philosophes and playwrights—it demonstrates how public discussions of eating and drinking were used to articulate concerns about the state of civilization versus that of nature, about the effects of consumption upon the identities of individuals and nations, and about the proper form and practice of scholarship. En route, the book devotes extensive attention to the manufacture, trade, and eating of foods, focusing upon coffee and liqueurs in particular, and also considers controversies over specific issues such as the chemistry of digestion and the nature of alcohol. Familiar figures such as Fontenelle, Diderot, and Rousseau appear alongside little-known individuals from the margins of the world of letters: the draughts-playing café owner Charles Manoury, the “Turkish envoy” Soliman Aga, and the natural philosopher Jacques Gautier d’Agoty. The book contributes to discussions of the dissemination of knowledge and the nature of scientific authority.

This chapter explores the eating habits and utensils employed throughout history, from the practice of picking up food with one's fingers to the more sophisticated art of dining with fine wine. Prior ...
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This chapter explores the eating habits and utensils employed throughout history, from the practice of picking up food with one's fingers to the more sophisticated art of dining with fine wine. Prior to its widespread use in the eighteenth century, it was almost unheard of to distance one's self from one's meal with the use of such utensils as the fork, yet nowadays “finger foods” have come into fashion and have been duly accorded with dietary benefits, besides. Other such eating habits over the years have changed the emphasis from overeating to deconstructing one's meal in courses, or in coupling one's meals with cold drinks. Some innovations in dining, such as the lazy Susan and the soup tureen, even allow for a more convivial—even aesthetic—atmosphere, if not one immersed in formal and informal rules of etiquette.Less

Table Practices and Manners

Massimo Montanari

Published in print: 2015-01-27

This chapter explores the eating habits and utensils employed throughout history, from the practice of picking up food with one's fingers to the more sophisticated art of dining with fine wine. Prior to its widespread use in the eighteenth century, it was almost unheard of to distance one's self from one's meal with the use of such utensils as the fork, yet nowadays “finger foods” have come into fashion and have been duly accorded with dietary benefits, besides. Other such eating habits over the years have changed the emphasis from overeating to deconstructing one's meal in courses, or in coupling one's meals with cold drinks. Some innovations in dining, such as the lazy Susan and the soup tureen, even allow for a more convivial—even aesthetic—atmosphere, if not one immersed in formal and informal rules of etiquette.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Oregon’s Willamette Valley became one of largest hop producers in the world. Hops, whose cones flavor and preserve beer, were a relatively new addition to ...
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In the first half of the twentieth century, Oregon’s Willamette Valley became one of largest hop producers in the world. Hops, whose cones flavor and preserve beer, were a relatively new addition to the agricultural landscape. Farmers first planted the crop in small acreages shortly after the Civil War to meet the needs of local brewers; then, after bountiful yields, quickly expanded their enterprise after finding ideal environmental conditions and viable transportation networks to reach larger markets. In the late nineteenth century, regional promoters claimed that farmers had caught “hop fever” and others suggested that the Willamette Valley was a “virtual garden spot” for hop cultivation. Upon this foundation and vast connections with people and goods from around the globe, the hop industry continued to expand, with farmers claiming the title “Hop Center of the World” by the early 1900s. Despite world wars, Prohibition, and the introduction of botanical pests and diseases, success has lasted to the present. In the past thirty years, the valley’s hop industry, aided by horticultural scientists, played a vital role in the craft beer revolution, because growers produced the hop varieties used to make distinctive beers. By making hops the central character in a wide-reaching history, this book aims to connect readers with their agricultural origins of the beers they drink and offer an enhanced sense of place for Portland and Oregon’s Willamette Valley.Less

Hoptopia : A World of Agriculture and Beer in Oregon's Willamette Valley

Peter A. Kopp

Published in print: 2016-09-06

In the first half of the twentieth century, Oregon’s Willamette Valley became one of largest hop producers in the world. Hops, whose cones flavor and preserve beer, were a relatively new addition to the agricultural landscape. Farmers first planted the crop in small acreages shortly after the Civil War to meet the needs of local brewers; then, after bountiful yields, quickly expanded their enterprise after finding ideal environmental conditions and viable transportation networks to reach larger markets. In the late nineteenth century, regional promoters claimed that farmers had caught “hop fever” and others suggested that the Willamette Valley was a “virtual garden spot” for hop cultivation. Upon this foundation and vast connections with people and goods from around the globe, the hop industry continued to expand, with farmers claiming the title “Hop Center of the World” by the early 1900s. Despite world wars, Prohibition, and the introduction of botanical pests and diseases, success has lasted to the present. In the past thirty years, the valley’s hop industry, aided by horticultural scientists, played a vital role in the craft beer revolution, because growers produced the hop varieties used to make distinctive beers. By making hops the central character in a wide-reaching history, this book aims to connect readers with their agricultural origins of the beers they drink and offer an enhanced sense of place for Portland and Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

This chapter presents the book’s broader arguments and isolates the specific ways in which the study makes a critical intervention in the historiography of modern Britain. It also introduces the ...
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This chapter presents the book’s broader arguments and isolates the specific ways in which the study makes a critical intervention in the historiography of modern Britain. It also introduces the different categories of source material, and then isolates four key motifs in the book. First, it demonstrates how the London restaurant raises important issues about geography and scale in the writing of the history, not merely of London, but of Britain and its relationship to the wider world. Second, it recovers categories of social actors (waiting staff, cooks, managers, and restaurant proprietors) who have been overlooked in the existing practices of social history. Third, this study of the restaurant requires us to acknowledge the service sector in the creation of metropolitan modernity. Fourth, it demonstrates the rewards of focusing on the more quotidian and congenial, as opposed to sensational or fraught, aspects of urban life.Less

Introduction : Foregrounding the Restaurant

Brenda Assael

Published in print: 2018-07-12

This chapter presents the book’s broader arguments and isolates the specific ways in which the study makes a critical intervention in the historiography of modern Britain. It also introduces the different categories of source material, and then isolates four key motifs in the book. First, it demonstrates how the London restaurant raises important issues about geography and scale in the writing of the history, not merely of London, but of Britain and its relationship to the wider world. Second, it recovers categories of social actors (waiting staff, cooks, managers, and restaurant proprietors) who have been overlooked in the existing practices of social history. Third, this study of the restaurant requires us to acknowledge the service sector in the creation of metropolitan modernity. Fourth, it demonstrates the rewards of focusing on the more quotidian and congenial, as opposed to sensational or fraught, aspects of urban life.